Cool
Every summer, the speakers on the street played their songs first. They were a mixed-gender trio who sang wistful love stories over fast, bright rhythms.
At a glance 🔭💭
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- ProducerChoi Jun-young
He is said to have produced Cool's first album and written their debut song, "The Reason I Wanted It to Be You."
- MemberYu Chae-yeong
The original female vocalist, she worked on the first album before setting out on a solo and acting career; she passed away in 2014.
- MemberLee Jae-hoon
As lead vocalist, he was the very voice of Cool.
- ProducerYoon Il-sang
He wrote many of Cool's hits, including "Destiny" and "Sorrow," and stayed with them through the 20th-anniversary song "Is Everyone Doing Well?"
- ProducerLee Seung-ho
Partnering with Yoon Il-sang, he wrote the lyrics to Cool's signature songs, crafting the group's distinctive story songs about the crossed hearts of men and women.
- SupportLee So-ra
Lee So-ra brought Cool onto the stage of “Lee So-ra's Proposal,” the program the singer was hosting at the time. The “Aloha” they performed there survives as one of the defining live videos from the group's active years.
I. Four at the start · 1994–1995
(Debut) In July 1994, in Seoul, South Korea, Cool debuted through Warner Music Korea as a co-ed quartet. Their debut album, “The Reason I Wanted It to Be You,” came out on the 10th of that month. The members were leader and main rapper Choi Joon-myung, rapper Kim Sung-soo, main vocalist Lee Jae-hoon, and female vocalist Yoo Chae-yeong. No detailed record survives of who put the group together, or how. (Faces) Lee Jae-hoon, born in 1974, stood at the center of the group from the start with his clear, high voice. Yoo Chae-yeong (born Kim Soo-jin), born in 1973 in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, drew attention with a shaved head that was startling for the time. The members wrote the lyrics to several of the album's tracks themselves, and the record also included a solo song by Lee Jae-hoon. (Choi Jun-young) The title track is said to have been written by the composer Choi Jun-young. The rich harmonies laid down in the background are said to have been sung by Insooni. The choreography is said to have been created by Kim Young-wan, who led the dance team Friends. For the follow-up single the group put forward a reggae version of “Now” — a sign that, from their debut, their hearts were already set on reggae and summer rhythms. (The era) It was the period after Seo Taiji and Boys, when dance groups swept the broadcast music charts, and songs by co-ed groups such as Roo'Ra and Two Two poured nonstop from the cassette-tape stalls on the streets. Cool's first album peaked at No. 9, a respectable showing. It was a respectable start for newcomers, but within a year the face of the group would change dramatically.
The debut single of the four-member Cool, said to have been written by the composer Choi Jun-young. The song preserves Cool's first incarnation, with original member Yoo Chae-yeong.
- The opening stretch where only the accompaniment plays before the singing begins (the intro) is quite long. It carries over the way early-1990s dance tracks gave clubgoers ample time to dance.
- The rich harmonies supporting the song from behind (the background vocals) are said to have been sung by Insooni. Their texture is strikingly different from the young voices up front, and worth listening for.
- The quartet's structure, with rap and singing taking turns, makes for an interesting comparison with the later three-member Cool. This is Cool's trademark exchange of male and female voices before it had been polished.
II. Room for three · 1995–1996
(Departures) In 1995, ahead of the second album, Choi Joon-myung and Yoo Chae-yeong left the group. Yoo Chae-yeong is said to have left wanting to sing solo. Yoo went on to the co-ed group US and then a solo singing career, and was long beloved as an actress and television entertainer as well. Accounts of Choi Joon-myung's later activities differ from source to source. (Yuri) Yuri filled the empty spot. From the second album on, Yuri took the sub-vocal part with a bright timbre that balanced the co-ed group, while Kim Sung-soo took over the rap. The trio of Kim Sung-soo, Lee Jae-hoon and Yuri would remain unchanged for the next ten years. (Waiting) The title track of the second album, “The Ku:l : Love Is..., Waiting,” released in October 1995, was “A Little Waiting.” Another song on the same album, “Before I Get Sad,” set the feelings of someone facing a breakup over a buoyant rhythm, and it would never be left off any later list of Cool's signature songs. This contrast — bright sound carrying a lonely story — became the basic grammar of Cool's music from then on. (Division of labor) Many regard Lee Jae-hoon as the group's musical center. It was around this time that a division of labor took hold: Lee Jae-hoon steered the singing and the direction of the records, Kim Sung-soo supplied the rap and the energy onstage, and Yuri brought the bright atmosphere. The three distinct personalities suited Cool's characteristic way of singing, trading verses like men and women whose feelings keep crossing.
A track from the second album, the first by the trio Yuri had joined. Cool's grammar of laying the feeling of parting over a bright rhythm emerges clearly here for the first time.
- The quick, light beat gets the body moving first, but what the song portrays is the hesitation of someone on the verge of a breakup. This mismatch is the heart of Cool's music.
- Lee Jae-hoon's high, clear voice lifts the refrain (the chorus) without strain. His hallmark is that even on high notes his voice doesn't crack but floats up lightly.
- It captures the typical sound of mid-1990s dance pop, built with electronic keyboards (synthesizers) and rhythm machines (drum machines).
III. Destiny and summer · 1996–1997
(The duo) From the third album on, the people who defined Cool's sound were the composer Yoon Il-sang and the lyricist Lee Seung-ho. “Destiny,” the title track of the third album “Destined For The Best,” released in November 1996, had lyrics by Lee Seung-ho, with Yoon Il-sang handling both composition and arrangement. Yoon Il-sang would go on to write many of Cool's hits for years to come. Cool's story cannot be told without these two. (Candy) In early 1997 “Destiny” swept the chart programs of all three broadcast networks. On KBS's “Gayo Top 10” it went head-to-head with H.O.T.'s “Candy” and held No. 1 for five consecutive weeks, winning the Golden Cup that February. The sight of an idol group riding a teenage fandom competing on the same chart with a co-ed group that even adults sang along to in karaoke rooms and nightclubs shows exactly the two branches of late-1990s K-pop. The third album is said to have sold in large numbers, but official sales figures cannot be confirmed. (Summer) In the summer of 1997 the group released album 3.5, “Summer Story,” and sang “Woman on the Beach.” This practice of slipping a half-step album aimed at the season between studio albums is what made Cool the group of summer. From then on the song played every summer as background music on the news. (Production) After this Lee Jae-hoon is said to have become deeply involved in the making of the records. There is also a story that an agency devoted solely to Cool was set up around this time. As the singer came to hold the overall direction of the records, Cool gradually changed from a group that sang the songs it was given into one that chose its own colors.
The first major hit the duo of Yoon Il-sang and Lee Seung-ho handed Cool. On “Gayo Top 10” it competed with H.O.T.'s “Candy” and held No. 1 for five consecutive weeks.
- It's the story of a narrator who already has a lover, meets someone who feels like fate, and can't decide what to do — so much so that its working title before release was the blunt “Two-Timing.” The earnest way the narrator confesses this predicament draws a curious laugh.
- Yoon Il-sang handled both composition and arrangement, so the melody and accompaniment move as one body. As soon as the refrain begins, a short, catchy repeated phrase (the hook) arrives.
- It was a sound of the streets — there's even an anecdote that in early 1997 some arcade whack-a-mole machines played it in alternation with “Candy.”
- In 2014 it was sung again as a competition song on the Lee Jae-hoon episode of “Hidden Singer 3,” introducing it to a new generation.
The title track of album 3.5, released between studio albums with summer in its sights. This is the very song that made Cool the group of summer.
- The song heard faintly at the very beginning of the track is the Beatles' “This Boy.” The contrast of opening with a 1960s song and then crossing into a 1990s dance beat is delightful.
- Unlike its refreshing summer sound, the romantic situation in the song is quite complicated. It's the track where Cool's method of loading a tangled story onto a bright sound comes through most dramatically.
- It was used every year as background music for summer news reports.
- In 2020 Ravi, Yeri and Jeon Woong remade it over a hip-hop beat (trap) marked by deep, booming bass and finely chopped hi-hats. Heard side by side with the original, the generational gap in sound is vivid.
IV. Sad thoughts · 1998–2000
(Sorrow) “Sorrow,” the title track of the fourth album “Cool 4,” released in April 1998, was another song made together by Lee Seung-ho and Yoon Il-sang. The ae in the title is not ae meaning love (愛) but ae meaning grief (哀), and the English title was Sorrow. Over a fast, upbeat accompaniment flows the loneliness of a narrator who seems to have been betrayed by a lover. It was cherished for a long time, and that year it won the Golden Disc Popular Singer Award, the KBS Music Awards Singer of the Year, and a main prize at the SBS Gayo Daejeon. (Financial crisis) 1998 was the height of the Asian financial crisis. In a year when news of layoffs and bankruptcies covered the papers, the fourth album sold more than 780,000 copies. It's easy to read this as songs of sadness sung to a dance beat consoling the people of that time. What is certain is that this was an era when the record market still pressed CDs and cassettes by the hundreds of thousands. (Guest member) Around the fourth album and album 4.5, the comedian Yoon Jung-soo sometimes appeared onstage with them like a guest member. Album 4.5, released in September 1998, led with “Mijeol” and also included a newly arranged version of “Sorrow.” In 1999 the group received the youth co-ed singer award at the Korea Entertainment Arts Awards. (Interpretations of Men and Women) The fifth album, “Cool 5,” from April 2000, sold more than 680,000 copies with “Interpretations of Men and Women” as its title track. The song wittily portrays the romantic psychology of a man and a woman taking the same event in different ways. Cool's story songs, in which male and female vocals take turns baring their hearts, reached their clearest form here.
The title track of the fourth album, which came out in the depths of the financial crisis and sold more than 780,000 copies. It is counted as the most enduringly loved of Cool's songs.
- The ae in the title is ae meaning grief (哀). Following the cheerful melody, you realize only belatedly that the song is actually speaking of the loneliness of having been betrayed by a lover.
- The refrain unfolds in Lee Jae-hoon's high register. In concerts after the 2008 reunion he sang it a key lower than the original, but on “Hidden Singer 3” he sang it in the original key, which became a talking point.
- In September of the same year a newly arranged version appeared on album 4.5. You can compare the same song in two different outfits.
- 10CM and Lee Mu-jin sang it again, changing some lyrics to suit the times. On the “Saturday, Saturday Is a Singer” stage of “Infinite Challenge,” Kim Sung-soo and Lee Jae-hoon sang it together with Yewon.
V. Summer and winter · 2001–2003
(Two seasons) From 2001, Cool released two albums a year. In early July a studio album took care of summer; in December the “Whisper” series took care of winter. The 6th album, “6ix,” released in July 2001, won a main prize at the Golden Disc Awards with “Jeompo Mambo.” (Aloha) “Aloha,” the title track of the 6.5th album “First Whisper,” released that December, was a ballad reportedly composed by Wi Jong-su. Lee Jae-hoon later described it as a love song with a summer feel that happened to come out in winter. Cool did little television promotion for the song, and their live performance on KBS’s “Lee So-ra’s Proposal” survives as its signature stage footage. Because it is a song of declared love, it went on to become a wedding standard. (Truth) The 7th album, “7even,” released in July 2002, rode “Truth” to become the year’s best-selling record and won the Grand Prize at the 17th Golden Disc Awards — the first, and to this day the only, Grand Prize ever won by a mixed-gender group. A main prize at the Seoul Music Awards, a main prize at the SBS Gayo Daejeon and Singer of the Year (youth category) at the KBS Music Awards followed. It was the summit, reached 8 years after their debut. (MP3) Yet the record market was already faltering by then. In the early 2000s, as file-sharing services and MP3 players spread, million-sellers began to vanish. The 8th album, “8ight,” released in July 2003, won a main prize at the Golden Disc Awards with “If You’re Going to Marry,” but Cool is said to have sharply scaled back their television appearances after it.
A love-confession ballad that the summer group released in winter. Though it was barely promoted on television, it settled in as a wedding song and is still sung anew across generations.
- The song is reportedly the work of composer Wi Jong-su. Lee Jae-hoon described it as a love song with a summer feel that came out in winter. Fittingly for a song named after the Hawaiian greeting, its sound carries a warm, southern-island texture.
- Instead of a fast dance track, Lee Jae-hoon’s voice sings over a slow beat as if making a confession face to face. It is the most direct voice in all of Cool’s songs.
- The signature stage footage from its time is the live performance on “Lee So-ra’s Proposal.”
- Countless singers, Jo Jung-suk and IU among them, have covered it, and in 2023 a video of Lee Jae-hoon singing it with Sung Si-kyung reached number 1 on YouTube’s trending music chart.
VI. Farewell and return · 2004–2026
(Farewell) The 9th album, in 2004, sold some 90,000 copies; the 10th, “Forever,” in 2005, some 50,000. The 10th album’s title track, “This Summer,” composed by Yoon Il-sang with lyrics by Lee Seung-ho, was a summer song laid over a Hawaiian-guitar melody. The album also carried solo tracks by all three members and a duet by Yuri featuring MC Mong. On August 2 of that year, the three held a press conference to announce their breakup, saying they hoped the name Cool would long endure. (Reunion) 3 years later, in July 2008, Cool returned with the 10.5th album, “I Want Love,” and in the summer of 2009 released the 11th album, “COOL 11.” (Loss) In July 2014, original member Yoo Chae-young died of stomach cancer. She was 40. (Rediscovery) That August, the Lee Jae-hoon episode of JTBC’s “Hidden Singer 3” aired, and Cool’s songs began to be sung again. In September they released a 20th-anniversary album, and in December they put out “Is Everyone Doing Well?,” written by Yoon Il-sang to celebrate Cool’s return, and set off on their first national tour in 5 years. At year’s end, on the “Saturday, Saturday Is for Singers” special of MBC’s “Infinite Challenge,” Kim Sung-soo and Lee Jae-hoon sang “Sorrow” with Yewon. In late 2015 they formed the project group Coolyote with Koyote. (Now) No new album has appeared under the Cool name since. Kim Sung-soo takes the stage as a club DJ and Lee Jae-hoon in solo concerts, while Yuri lives abroad. The songs carry on in other voices: 10CM and Lee Mu-jin have covered “Sorrow,” and Jo Jung-suk and IU have sung “Aloha.” In 2023, Lee Jae-hoon appeared on Sung Si-kyung’s YouTube channel and sang “Aloha” with him.
Lesser-known stories
“Destiny” is said to have had the working title “Two-Timing” before release. Behind a title that sings of fated love, in other words, lay the predicament of a love triangle. Because the final title hid the story’s heart and left only its surface, most people who sang along never gave much thought to the song’s situation. The title “Sorrow” (Aesang) was long misread as using ae (愛, ‘love’). In fact it uses ae (哀, ‘grief’), meaning sorrowful thoughts, and its English title is indeed Sorrow. It is a misunderstanding that distills the character of Cool’s music: a bright accompaniment covering up the meaning of the title. The song faintly laid under the opening of “Woman on the Beach” is the Beatles’ “This Boy.” It is mixed in so quietly that most people who heard the track on the radio and in karaoke rooms in 1997 never noticed. Because the composer of the debut song, Choi Jun-young, and the original leader, Choi Jun-myung, have similar names, rumor had it they were the same person. Sources disagree on whether they are. With so few records of the group’s early days, the confusion has lingered. “Aloha” is now counted among Cool’s signature songs, yet at the time of its release it was hardly ever performed on television. The live performance on “Lee So-ra’s Proposal” survives as its signature footage. The song’s popularity built up slowly — not through the broadcast charts but through wedding halls and karaoke rooms, and later through covers by many singers.
Glossary 📚🔎
Mixed-gender group
(Word origin) Honseong (混成) means ‘formed (成) by mixing (混).’ It refers to a group formed of men and women mixed into a single team. (In Korean popular music) A group in which male and female members sing together. In the 1990s, mixed-gender groups such as Roo’ra, Two Two, Cool and Koyote were hugely popular. When men and women trade parts as if in conversation, a single song can hold the hearts of both people in a love song. It is like a school play in which a boy and a girl alternate lines to complete a scene. (Elsewhere) In sports, the word is used for mixed doubles or mixed relays, in which men and women compete as one team.
Title track
(Word origin) “Title” is the English word for the name of a work. It means the song that serves as the face of an album. (In Korean popular music) Of the many songs on an album, the one promoted first through television performances and a music video. The album often shares its name with the title track. Just as a class picks one representative to send to a school event, singers and their agencies choose the song most likely to reach the most people and put it forward as the title track. (Elsewhere) In sports, a title can also mean a championship, so a title fight is a bout with the champion’s belt at stake.
Follow-up single
(Word origin) Husok (後續) means ‘continuing (續) what comes after (後).’ (In Korean popular music) A song chosen from the same album for further television promotion once the title track’s run has ended. On Cool’s 1st album, the follow-up was a reggae version of “Now.” It is a way of making an album’s popularity last longer. It is like bringing on a substitute late in a soccer match to keep the game’s momentum going. (Elsewhere) In news and business, it is used for things like follow-up reports and follow-up measures that continue something dealt with earlier.
Special album (.5 release)
(In Korean popular music) An album released between numbered studio albums, marked with an added 0.5 — as in Cool’s albums 3.5, 4.5 and 6.5. It often has fewer songs than a studio album, or holds seasonal new songs and rearranged versions. Cool divided the year by releasing a studio album in summer and a .5 album, the “Whisper” series, in winter. Like a pop quiz between the first- and second-semester exams, it is a small release bridging the big ones. (Elsewhere) Version numbers like 1.5 in software come from a similar idea: an interim update between major overhauls.
Golden Cup
(In Korean popular music) An award given to a song that held number 1 for 5 consecutive weeks on KBS’s music chart show “Gayo Top 10.” Because it required keeping the top spot five times in a row, it was regarded as the surest proof of popularity in its day. Cool received the Golden Cup in February 1997 for “Destiny,” and it is said to have been the last Golden Cup ever won by a group dance track. Like a game that awards a special title only after 5 straight wins, it was an award that valued staying power over a single victory. (Elsewhere) In sports, Golden Cup is a common name for a tournament’s championship trophy.
Reggae
(Word origin) Reggae is the name of a music that arose in the late 1960s in Jamaica, an island nation in the Caribbean. Where the name comes from is unclear, with several competing theories. (In Korean popular music) Its hallmark is a laid-back rhythm in which guitar or keyboard chops short, clipped chords on the back of the beat — that is, the second and fourth beats. Because it evokes summer and the sea, it was often used in Korean summer dance songs of the 1990s. Cool, too, released the follow-up single from their debut album in a reggae version. When you clap not on one-two but rest on one and clap on two, your body starts to sway on its own — reggae uses exactly that sway of the offbeat.
Guest member
(Word origin) Gaegwon (客員) means ‘a member (員) who takes part as a guest (客).’ (In Korean popular music) Someone who is not an official member but joins a group’s recordings or performances for a set period. Around Cool’s 4th and 4.5th albums, the comedian Yoon Jung-soo sometimes took the stage as a kind of guest member. It is like a friend from another class coming for just one day to help your class’s choir at the school festival. (Elsewhere) At universities and research institutes, it is used for visiting professors and visiting researchers — people affiliated elsewhere who come to teach or do research for a set period.
Remake
(Word origin) The English word “remake” means to make (make) again (re). (In Korean popular music) A song released in the past, newly arranged, rerecorded and released by a different singer. The original melody is kept, while the instruments, rhythm and voice are dressed anew. Cool’s “Sorrow” has been sung by 10CM and Lee Mu-jin, and “Aloha” by Jo Jung-suk and many other singers. It is like cooking from a recipe handed down by your grandmother, adjusting the seasoning a little to suit today’s tastes. (Elsewhere) In film, a remake is when an old movie is shot again with new actors and a new director.